


Orange Rose

by FuryBeam136



Series: Hanahaki is Fury’s Shit [4]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: "how to feel emotions???", Connor is a moron, Hanahaki Disease, a moron in love, hanahaki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-15
Updated: 2019-06-15
Packaged: 2020-05-02 05:31:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19192756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FuryBeam136/pseuds/FuryBeam136
Summary: Connor doesn't understnad feelings. They slip through his understanding and remain hovering around him, just out of reach. He doesn't know what the warmth he feels with Hank is. Doesn't know what the white-hot fire in his veins when Detective Reed insults him means. Doesn't know what the suffocating and yet oh so pleasant warmth in his chest when he sees Markus could be.





	Orange Rose

Connor doesn't understnad feelings. They slip through his understanding and remain hovering around him, just out of reach. He doesn't know what the warmth he feels with Hank is. Doesn't know what the white-hot fire in his veins when Detective Reed insults him means. Doesn't know what the suffocating and yet oh so pleasant warmth in his chest when he sees Markus could be.

He spends so much time around Markus even as he tries to keep his distance. It isn't working. He is the moth drawn to the flame that is Markus, and there's nothing he can do about it. He basks in Markus' presence, feels his thirium pump stutter and jolt when the deviant leader glances his way. Hank laughs each time Connor mentions it. He won't tell Markus. Markus' laugh is warm and beautiful, but Connor finds himself fearing that laugh turning against him.

He first begins to feel odd during a press conference. He's sitting beside Markus, ever watchful, ever distant, and Markus is asked about any relationships. Markus simply responds by saying there's no time for a relationship, not now. Connor's chest constricts and he feels something in it twitch. A diagnostic shows nothing to be wrong. Connor ignores it.

The feeling doesn't go away. He feels like theres something crushing his chest and when the conference is finally over and he can go home he opens his chest up and just like that, the pressure is gone. There is nothing abnormal. The feeling of being exposed like this is uncomfortable. Connor closes his chest panels and thinks. He thinks for a long time.

His next meeting with Markus is indirect. Connor is following him at a distance, a bodyguard. Even though Markus told him not to. Connor can't let Markus get hurt. Nothing happens, of course. Nothing ever happens. But Connor is afraid that the one day he doesn't follow, doesn't watch Markus' every move, something will go terribly wrong. So he follows.

The feeling only gets worse the more Connor is around him until suddenly it seems to burst. He's sitting beside Markus as they talk to the press and Connor feels something in him _jolt._ It's violent and harsh, unlike the twitch from before. He stands and excuses himself rapidly, citing a brief malfunction as the issue. He hopes it's just a brief malfunction, even as everything screams at him that it isn't. He locks himself in a washroom and his chest heaves in a way Connor has never felt it move before. Suddely, he's choking. He can't breathe, his throat contorts and there's something in it, he needs to get it out.

An orange petal flutters from his lips and lands on the counter.

Connor heaves once more and his body stills. His throat feels raw. A single orange flower petal lies beside the sink. He tells himself that's the end of it. The malfunction is over. He knows that he's lying.

The next time it happens, he's afraid he won't get away in time. He's meeting with Jericho and Markus is telling him he's welcome and his chest is filling with that feeling and he stumbles on his way out, unable to even make an excuse because his chest is already beginning to contract, his throat is already struggling to force the petals out. Markus finds him choking and wheezing with a hand clamped over his mouth and eyes wide with fear.

"Connor? Are you alright?" No, he's not. He shakes his head and his body shudders as the petals begin to spill from his lips, where he catches them in his hand. "What's wrong with you?"

Connor doesn't show Markus the petals. "Just a- just a minor malfunction. I'm fine."

"Is this what happened to you the other day? are you sure you're alright?"

"Markus. Please." Connor feels miserable. Markus doesn't need to know that. "These episodes are... distressing. But they're nothing I can't deal with on my own."

"Okay. But if it gets worse, please tell me." Markus pauses for a moment. "I worry about you."

Those words are almost enough to send Connor into another fit. "Thank you," he says quietly.

The meeting continues without further incident.

Connor is home when it happens again. Markus is nowhere near him. He's just sitting and thinking about everything that's happening and suddenly he's on the floor clamping his hands over his lips because his body is heaving again. He can't breathe. He coughs up a handful of petals but it doesn't stop. Panic sets in further and Connor is trying desperately to get air into his artificial lungs but he can't, there's something lodged in his throat and it won't come out.

An orange rose covered in blue blood is expelled painfully from his throat.

Connor screams.

Hank comes running and Connor is scooped up into those warm arms and he stares at the rose with horror and fascination and he screams and screams until his voice doesn't work anymore and he's just buried in Hank's arms trying to forget about Markus and his body lurching uncomfortably and Amanda standing in the corner of his mind with her cold stare and her hands folded across her lap and-

"Connor. Kid. Look at me. Fuck, look at me."

"H-Hank?" Connor's throat is burning. He isn't sure if it's from screaming or the rose or both. "Hank, I'm scared."

"It's okay. You're going to be okay, you hear me?" Connor nods shakily. "It's alright. You're allowed to be scared."

Connor takes a deep breath and chokes on blood in his throat. He coughs up a mouthful of blue. His systems are already dealing with the bleeding in his throat. If only the roses didn't have thorns. If only the roses _weren't there._

He recovers after that. Alone in his home and hacking up flowers until there are no more. And then he's okay. His lungs fill with air and he feels almost free.

And then he sees Markus. He sees Markus, and he feels his chest crush inwards and he's choking on flowers again, for the first time in days. Connor can't get away in time. Markus sees him collapse to his knees and choke on flowers and leaves and his own blood. Connor claws at his own throat and wheezes and cries.

"Connor!" Markus shouts his name and rushes to his side. "Connor. What's wrong? Are you alright?"

Connor shakes his head desperately as he heaves up another mouthful of flowers. He can't breathe past the blooms pushing out of his mouth, and no matter how much his body convulses and shudders they don't stop coming.

"What's going on?" Markus is holding Connor, steadying his shaking shoulders and yet making everything worse. "Connor, calm down. You have to calm down."

Connor collapses and twitches and the panic is still there because goddamnit he can't breathe and there are roses and he can almost hear Amanda's voice whispering in his ear.

"You've failed," she hisses, "you're obsolete, you're worthless, and now you're dying."

"Shut up," Connor wants to scream. "Leave me alone!" But flowers choke his throat and he can't do anything but sob.

"Connor. I'm sorry, Connor." Markus sounds so upset, and when Connor stares into his eyes they are tearful. "I can't believe I let this happen to you." Connor doesn't know what he _means._

Markus presses his lips to Connor's and the roses push between them, into Markus' mouth, Markus' warmth. Connor's body _burns._

Flowers surge from his chest and he heaves until they are no more, but his body doesn't stop. Connor can't stop his body's desperate attempts to purge something no longer there.

"Connor. Calm down. Please. It's okay. You're okay."

Connor feels Markus' interface a few painful moments later, and falls into the relief of a system reboot.

He wakes to Markus holding a single orange rose, spots of blue blood dotting the petals. He winces and Amanda's cold voice, cold fingers, cold heart come back and he can't breathe. Markus shushes him and strokes his hair and whispers reassurances. "I hate roses," Connor hisses. "I hate them!"

"It's okay." Markus smiles. "I'm here for you. I love you."

Connor leans into Markus' chest and breaks.


End file.
